Over-classification and pseudo-classification are largely unknown but very serious problems in this country, ones that were made drastically worse during the Bush years. For additional information, see Chapter C in this report [pdf] from the 21st Century Right to Know project. We’re lucky that the man slated to become the next Director of National Intelligence, Adm. Dennis C. Blair, apparently agrees. Not only that, Blair understands that the Bush Administration’s use of over-classification and pseudo-classification was a product of both incompetence and, as Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse describes, an effort “to mislead the public and to frame, or more particularly, mis-frame, an outside political debate.” Blair’s committed to changing all of that, and I have to say, I’m happily surprised.
